


Spellbound

by HerotheHardWay



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: I don't know, Is this a one-shot?, M/M, also a little depressed?, but we know he'll get better so don't worry, like a lot, victor is impulsive, well I guess mostly victor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 13:10:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8668819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerotheHardWay/pseuds/HerotheHardWay
Summary: Victor is tired.  Tired of skating, tired of trying to figure out a new way of impressing people with his routines.  Finding the video of skater Katsuki Yuri is the best thing that's ever happened to him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Although I wish I did, I did not invent these characters. Dang.

You have to be self centered to choreograph for yourself. You have to love yourself enough that you think you look good doing this move, or striking this pose.  
That’s something Victor realizes as he stares blankly in the mirror of the ballet studio one day after Worlds. You have to be _in love with _yourself. And Victor just…isn’t any more.__

It’s ridiculous. He has more fans than ever, everyone talks about how he’s the best ice skater in the world, more attention than he quite knows what to do with. (Well, he can be an outrageous flirt. There’s always that.) And everyone is fawning over him every time he steps off the ice, telling him how sexy he is, how amazing he is.

But staring into the mirror, Victor Nikiforov doesn’t see it any more. This isn’t a new thing, really. He’s felt it this whole season, even as he’s put on flawless performance after flawless performance, holding the crowd spellbound every time. He’s felt it every time he’s gotten out of the shower, and stared at his lean body in the mirror. He used to stare at himself in a different way; he used to be completely enamored with his body. But now it just feels like a bunch of skin, and muscles, and bones, and not much else. He feels like whatever has been holding him together for his entire skating career is just—gone.

He walks to his wardrobe, gets dressed, and he was thinking about going to the rink, working through his choreography for next season some more, but he just…can’t. There’s no beauty in it, not when he skates, not that he _feels _, humming through his body like a battery. Victor doesn’t think he knows what beautiful looks like any more. People say it looks like him, so he supposes that he must be doing something right, but his inspiration, which has always been, well, himself, is too insubstantial to hold weight right now. He needs to figure out how to get it back before he’ll know if he’s skating this year.__

So instead of skating, he lies on the couch and surfs the internet for hours, pretending he’s basking in the victory of another medal, that he deserves a little self-indulgence. He starts off watching old videos of his routines, but when he gets the text, his internet session has degenerated to cat videos. He barely has the willpower to switch to his texts, and actually read something another human wrote to him.

“Victor. I don’t know what you’re doing, but you _have _to check out this video.” It’s Anton, his friend from home, who he barely keeps in touch with, but apparently couldn’t not send him this link. Victor squints at the screen, his eyes blurred from staring at a screen too long. It’s a youtube address, no hint about the content. It better not be one of those weird _fanvideos _people have sent him in the past.____

He clicks the link. The title is in Japanese. Oh, it’s another skating video. The audio is a little muffled, but he thinks he can hear…his music? The music for one of his most recent routines? There’s a dark haired ice skater standing in his opening pose. It’s probably another amateur, copying his routines for the thousandth time.

And then the skater starts _dancing. _Victor can’t take his eyes from the screen, as he flows smoothly through _his routine. _It’s not an easy routine, not by a long shot, and not only is this skater landing all the jumps, he’s also just…letting go, obviously not caring that he’s being recorded. He moves like he’s writing poetry, like he’s singing an aria, like he’s in love. Maybe he’s in love with himself, maybe not. But Victor can feel something strange in his chest as he watches. As soon as the skater finishes, he starts the video over, and he’s just as spellbound as the first time.____

_This. _This is what it used to feel like to skate.__

He scrolls through the comments section. Most of them are in Japanese, but it’s a good thing he decided to learn the language in school. This guy’s name is Yuri Katsuki, apparently. He laughs a little. Now he’ll know two Yuri’s!

And so Victor does the most impulsive thing in his life. (And he’s done plenty of impulsive things. Like that time with that one Ukrainian chick. Anyway.) He pulls up the soonest flight to Japan he can find and books a ticket. It leaves tonight, late. Time to pack.

On the plane, Victor wonders what the hell he’s doing. Watching another skater isn’t going to help him find his inspiration to keep skating, so why is he flying across the world? He mulls it over for most of the flight, and by the time the plane touches down, he’s decided what he’ll do. He’ll find this Yuri Katsuki, and tell him that he wants to coach him.

It’s not a lie, Victor really would love to work with the ice skater that got him out of his funk. He wants to push that man, see just how good he can be. And while he’s never really thought of coaching before, it’s where he’ll end up anyway, eventually. He knows he won’t be able to skate professionally forever, even if he might want to, and what else would he do?

When he finally finds the hotsprings that the Katsuki family apparently owns, he hesitates for a moment. Is he sure about this? Coaching Yuri Katsuki means he won’t be skating next season. He might not be skating in _any _season. But if it means Victor can get his inspiration back—he’d do anything. And there’s something about this Yuri that’s drawing him in. So he lifts his fist, and knocks.__

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to clarify: I'm super on board with fanvideos! But I imagine that they would make people uncomfortable when they're about them. Also, that pesky question of what language is anyone speaking, ever, strikes again! I also thought that Victor would probably think in the frame of first/last name, because he's not actually Japanese. (even though he speaks Japanese? I don't know what's going on...). Anyway, comments and kudos are always appreciated. :)


End file.
